No reason to be chosen.

This is the second week of lent.

Why we have not focused on giving up things - Perseverance and denial

We continue with looking at the gospels as Jesus moves towards the the cross.

The passage I want to focus on is on Matthew 3 :13-17

This take place immediately before the events in the wilderness that we looked at last week.

Matthew 3:13–17 CSB

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” 15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized. 16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

We will pick up on this passage later but I want to start with taking s into the old testament into the

1 Samuel 16:1-13

1 Samuel 16:1–13 CSB

1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself a king from his sons.” 2 Samuel asked, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?” 5 “In peace,” he replied. “I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” 8 Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said. 9 Then Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.” 10 After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, “The Lord hasn’t chosen any of these.” 11 Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.” Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.” 12 So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance. Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

We see in this story God pass over those that are qualified or seemingly well positioned in favour of picking David.

David was not the oldest, not the most experiences, so why did God choose David?

We have read that the prophet Samuel was sent by God to anoint a son of Jesse to be King Saul’s successor. Jesse’s eldest, Eliab, was an impressive physical specimen, just as Saul had been, causing Samuel to remark to himself, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before me!”

We read that v7 “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”

Did God choose David to be king because he had a good heart?

It is easy to trip over this verse by concluding that God chose David because, looking on his heart, He saw some goodness. In other words, we can easily conclude that God chose David to be king because he had a good heart.

we may make the assumption that Man may choose kings by looking for GOODNESS of outward appearance but the LORD chooses kings by looking for GOODNESS of heart.

Here are five problems with this conclusion:

One

The goodness of David’s heart is not affirmed in 1 Samuel 16. In fact, the only description of David comes in verse 12: “Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome.” It seems, David had a good outward appearance. But, notice, nothing is said about his heart.

The text doesn’t say he has a good heart.

Two

in 1 Samuel 17:28 David’s brother suggests that David might be motivated by a presumptuous and evil heart.

1 Samuel 17:28 CSB

28 David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and he became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!”

Perhaps Eliab is simply a jealous older brother who was still sulking for having been passed over. Or, perhaps, the narrator is using Eliab in both chapters to reveal twin truths. First, God does not look on the outward appearance. Second, though chosen by God, David is as flawed on the inside as the rest of us.

The people that know him don’t think he had a good heart

Three

The account of David in 1 and 2 Samuel does not paint a picture of a man with a good heart.

Voyerism

Adultery

Conspiracy

Deciet

Murder

By his own admission, David is in desperate need of inner-transformation: “Create in me a clean heart O God” he declares in Psalm 51:10

Davids behaviour an history does not support a good heart.

Four

The Son of David, Jesus the Messiah, underlines the fact that God does not choose people because they have a good heart in Mark 10:18 we read

Mark 10:18 CSB

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.

this denies us the ability to conclude that David was chosen because he was in possession of a good heart:

Five

If David had a good heart, meriting his selection by God to replace Saul, then I have a serious theological problem.

I don’t have a good heart, I am broken and need Jesus

God doesn’t chose by the merits how good your heart is. we are chosen by God’s grace in spite of our wicked hearts, including David.“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

So what was it about David?

David’s heart was not fundamentally any different from yours or mine, it was not naturally Good, he wasn’t born with specific genes. He wasn’t made differently. and yet if we read

1 Samuel 13:14; 1 Kings 11:4, 6, 33, 38; 15:3, 11; 2 Kings 14:3; 16:2; and even Acts 13:22. In all of these verses, David is held up as as a man who as it says in 1 Samuel 13:14

1 Samuel 13:14 CSB

14 but now your reign will not endure. The Lord has found a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord commanded.”

David is held up not has having a Good heart but of having an obedient Heart and a teachable heart. David is perfect example of heart-obedience and covenant keeping righteousness. And yet, even he as we can see thorough out his checkered history got it wrong time and time again. David though kept coming back to God.

Last week I focused on Psalm 32:1

Psalm 32:1 CSB

1 How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!

David is another proof of this statement. David went as far as declaring just that, we read David’s words quoted by Paul in the book of Romans 4:7-8

Romans 4:7–8 CSB

7 Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

Back in In 1 Samuel 16:7, and all the other verses that portray David as having been perfect (righteous), God is not looking on David’s heart directly as it is. God is looking at David heart as it will be through the lens of God’s forgiveness and restoration. God looks at David based on what he would be with God and not the state of his heart.

So what does this have to do with the baptism of Jesus?

We see in Matthew 3, Jesus at the very start of his ministry.

Jesus is baptised by John, as representation of cleansing and as a prophetic declaration that Jesus was to take our sins.

This is a time before Jesus had started his ministry, he had done nothing fro God, he had done nothing to change history and yet we hear these words,

Matthew 3:17 CSB

17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

When we come to God, he looks at us in the same way. This is my beloved Son/daughter with whom I am well-pleased.

Expand

It doesn’t matter what our back grounds, what our outward appearance is. Whether we are rich, poor, old, young are coming to God for the first time or the 99th time.

God looks at our hearts - through the mediation of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and what happened on that cross. He does not look at the sin, the transgressions the slip ups. He doesn’t look at what you have done for others or against others. He doesn’t care if you have a church background or have never stepped foot in one before when you come to Him with a teachable obedient heart then God sees you as Justified, just as he did David.

When God looked at David, then, He didn’t see David as he was. Rather, God saw in David the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Why, then, did God choose David? it wasn’t because he had a good heart?

God chose David because God chose David. . We are never told why.

but Romans tells us this (Romans 9:14–18)

Romans 9:14–18 CSB

14 What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 15 For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth. 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

This much is clear: It is in the choosing, and in the choosing alone, that David’s heart was declared to be good, and the same is true for you and me.

My heart is not naturally good, if we were together in this building I would say and neither is anyone here. neither is anyone’s heart hat it watching this video and yet it is a simple fact that God chose me and many of you and has an open invitation to all to come to Him to recognise Jesus as Lord.

An in this action of God choosing you and you accepting God. Wicked hearts, deceitful hearts, lukewarm hearts, nondescript heats are declared to be good by the righteousness of Jesus.

Landing

When you come to God or come back to God, He does not see the stains of the past or the natural state He sees you and declares this is my beloved Son/daughter with whom I am well pleased. It is not based on what you have done or what you might go onto do in the richness of Gods love it is based on what Jesus has done

I want to give you that opportunity to come before God and for God to see your hear through the filter of Grace and Mercy.

“Dear God, I know I have done wrong in my life and I thank you that Jesus paid for my sin on the cross and rose from the dead to show His power over sin and death.

I know that I am one with the world, but I want to be one with Jesus. Help me to know that I am forgiven and help me to live for you each and every day.

I thank you that you are a loving union of three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I thank you that all light and love and life is found in you. I thank you that you love me and have invited me into a relationship with you.

Amen

And God say’s this is my child with whom I am well pleased.

That prayer is the start of a journey why not get in touch with us to hear about what can happen next and let us support you. If you are not local or for whatever reason you would be better of continuing your journey with Jesus elsewhere, we would be pleased to help you find a church that suits you.

Ending

2 Corinthians 13:11–14 CSB

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send you greetings. 13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.